Water saving flush valve unit for toilets



Sept. 23, 1958 E. G. BROWN WATER SAVING FLUSH VALVE UNIT FOR TOILETS Filed Feb. 6 1956 E DWA R D B ROW N ,INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

' 2,852,783 Patented Sept. 23, 1958 the ilC

WATER SAVING FLUSH VALVE UNIT FOR TOILETS Edward G. Brown, North Olmsted, Ohio Application February 6, 1956, Serial No. 563,639

3 Claims. (Cl. 4-57) This invention is an improved flush valve unit for toilet tanks, and its primary purpose is to conserve water.

With reference to the common type of flush tank toilet equipped with the conventional ball valve, each time the toilet is flushed substantially the entire contents of the tank is discharged. In the majority of instances, when only waste liquid is to be disposed of, half the contents of the tank would be sufficient. Accordingly, much water is wasted, and this is of serious concern in communities where the water supply is limited, or wherever and whenever water shortages are caused by droughts.

Therefore, it is an object of my invention to provide a flush valve unit for use with toilets of the type above referred to, and which may beeasily and quickly substituted for the conventional ball valve in toilets that are already in use without any change having to be made in the tank and its fittings and which, when unseated by the usual operation of the flush handle, followed by the customery immediate release, will automatically restrict the discharge to a predetermined limited amount of water as, for example, half the contents of the tank, which will hereinafter be referred to as a short flush. On occasions when substantially hte entire contents of the tank are to be discharged, or, in other words, when a so-called long flush is required, the flushing handle is held in valve opening position until the tank empties.

Another object of the invention is to provide a flush valve unit by which a short flush or a long flush may be accomplished, at will, and which, when unseated, effects instantaneous maximum opening of the tank outlet so as to insure the initial gush and surging flow through siphonic action, essential to a proper flushing of a toilet of the type to which my invention applies. Also, in the case of a short flush, when the valve unit is unseated, the unit is immediately released to the action of the water, and at the point when the buoyancy of the float is overcome by suction the valve instantly snaps to closed position.

Further and more general objects of the invention are simplicity of constructon, economy of manufacture, reliability of performance, and durability in service.

The foregoing objects and advantages, with others hereinafter appearing, are attained in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing; and while I shall proceed to describe said embodiment in detail, I wish it to be understood that the invention is not limited to the structural features shown further than is required by the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing, wherein like reference characters designate like parts in the several views,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my improved flush valve unit;

Fig. 2 illustrates the flush valve unit in central vertical section and in association with parts of a toilet tank, and

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Describing first the conventional parts of the toilet tank wherewith my improved flush valve unit is associated, 1 denotes the bottom wall of the tank within an opening of which is clamped, by means of a nut 2, a sleeve-like outlet fitting 3, the joint between the enlarged upper end of the fitting and the tank wall being sealed by a packing washer 4. The interior of the enlarged upper end of the fitting 3 is surrounded by an upwardly flaring valve seat 5. Joined in the usual manner to the lower end of the fitting 3 is the flush pipe 6 that leads to the toilet bowl.

Rising within the tank from a lateral extension 10 of the fitting 3 is the usual overflow pipe 11, and said pipe communicates through a passage 12 with the outlet fitting 3 adjacent the bottom of the valve seat 5. A conventional guide arm 13 is clamped to the overflow pipe at the required elevation for my purpose, and its outer end is provided with a vertical eye 14 that is in approximate axial alignment with the valve seat 5. The usual trip lever is designated 15, only the distal end portion of which is shown in the drawing, and it normally occu pies a depressed position a substantial distance above the outlet of the tank.

My improved flush valve unit is designated generally by the reference numeral 20. In the present embodiment of the invention it comprises float means 21, a frame or channel 22, and a valve member 23 that is connected to and spaced from the lower end of the frame or channel 22 as by an upwardly tapering neck 24. The channel 22 is open along one side from top to bottom, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, while the opposite side of the channel is closed by a semi-cylindrical wall. The channel is shown as having a top wall 25 and a bottom wall 26. The float means 21 is illustrated as a unitary hollow cylindrical member in concentric relation to the semicylindrical Wall of the channel and its radius is such that its peripheral wall is flush with the open side of the channel. A guide rod 28, having an eye 29 at its upper end, is extended downwardly through a hole in the top wall 25 of the channel and through the eye 14 of the guide arm 13 and its lower end is threadedly engaged within a nut 30 that is incorporated in the structure at the top of the neck 24. It will be observed that the guide rod is central of the float and of the closed semi-cylindrical side of the channel. The guide rod 28 occupies the same position and serves the same function as in the common type valve-this contributing to interchangeability of my valve therewith.

Carried by the lower end of the neck 24 is the disclike body of the valve member 23, both being shown as hollow. Surrounding the annular edge wall of the valve member is a relatively Soft hollow sealing ring 35, the same being confined between vertically spaced flanges of the valve member. Guide means is shown as depending from the lower end of the valve member, the same presently consisting of a plurality of guide fingers 36 that serve to locate the valve member substantially centrally of the outlet fitting. The flush valve unit is shown as operatively connected to the trip lever 15 by means of a flexible element or chain 38, the chain being attached to the unit through the medium of the eye 29.

The normal water level in the tank is represented by the line A. During a short flush the level drops approximately to that represented by the line B, and at the conclusion of a long flush it is at about the top of the outlet fitting 3.

It will be understood that the flushing lever 15 is operated by the usual flushing handle, not shown, and that when the handle is operated to initiate a flush, the free end of the lever is raised and, through the medium of the chain 38, lifts the flush valve unit. to remove the valve member 23 from the seat 5. As is customary, the flushing handle is immediately released. However, as soon as the valve member is removed from the seat the unit by reason of the buoyancy of the float 21 rises toward. the surface of the Water, being stopped in its ascent by the engagement of the bottom wall 26 of the channel with the arm 13, it being manifest that the guide rod 28 rises freely through the eye of said arm. The unit is now sustained by the buoyancy of the float until the water level falls sufliciently to allow the suction,

created by the flow of water through the outlet of the tank to seat the valve. This occurs with a snap action and insures tight engagement of the sealing ring 35 with the valve seat 5. This also prevents waste of water that would otherwise occur because of ineflFectual discharge at a slow rate.

To produce a long flush the flushing lever is held in effective position in order to maintain the flush valve unit elevated until the tank is practically emptied.

The flush valve unit, in its present form, is desirably fabricated of a rigid, durable plastic. By virtue of its design, the part of the unit including the float 21 and the channel 22 may be made of identical halves that meet and are suitably joined together in the central horizontal plane of the float. The neck 24 and the disclike top and annular wall 33 of the valve member are made integral and suitably joined to the bottom of the channel 22, and a part including the bottom flange of the valve member and the guide fingers 36 is joined to the lower end of the annular wall 33.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A flush valve unit comprising a vertical channel member open along one side, float means partially surrounding and connected to the channel member a substantial distance above the lower end thereof and arranged so as not to obstruct the open side of the channel member, a valve member incorporated in the unit and situated below the lower end of the channel member, a guide rod disposed vertically within the channel member and attached thereto at its upper and lower ends and arranged for cooperation with conventional guide means entering the channel through the open side of the latter, said guide rod being substantially coincident with the center of floatation of the float means and approximately in axial alignment with the valve member.

2. A flush valve unit comprising a vertical channel member open along one side, float means partially surrounding and connected to the channel member a substantial distance above the lower end thereof and arranged so as not to obstruct the open side of the channel member, a valve member incorporated in the unit and situated below the lower end of the channel member, a guide rod disposed vertically within the channel member and attached thereto at its upper and lower ends and arranged for cooperation with conventional guide means located as usual in a toilet tank so as to extend into the channel through the open side of the latter, said guide rod being substantially coincident with the center of floatation of the float means and approximately in axial alignment with the valve member and terminating at its upper end in an attaching part for operative connection with the trip lever of a toilet tank.

3. A flush valve unit comprising a channel member open at one side and closed at the other by a semicylindrical Wall and provided with top and bottom walls, a cylindrical float substantially surrounding said channel with the periphery thereof concentric to said semicylindrical wall and substantially flush with the open side of the channel, a guide rod supported by and between the top and bottom walls of the channel coincident with the axis of the float, a neck depending from the lower end of the channel in substantial alignment with the guide rod, and a valve member that is circular in plan joined to the lower end of the neck in substantially concentric relation thereto, and a plurality of guide fingers depending from and spaced apart circumferentially of the valve member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,784,944 Nordlund Dec. 16, 1930 1,843,461 Scott Feb. 2, 1932 1,890,281 Dollinger Dec. 6, 1932 2,214,439 Robertson Sept. 10, 1940 2,219,367 Johnson Oct. 29, 1940 2,290,679 Edges July 21, 1942 2,532,977 White Dec. 5, 1950 2,625,691 Clifton Jan. 20, 1953 2,705,808 Crockett Apr. 12, 1955 

